Obama Administration Loosens Regulations On Countries Doing Business With Iran

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Updated guidelines published by the US Treasury ease restrictions on foreign companies that attempt to do business with Iran in an effort to “loosen restrictions”.

The new guidelines allow other countries to do business with Iran, so long as those countries were not affiliated with the United States, or so long as none of the Iranian money enters into the United States financial system.

Breitbart News reports:

“The update clarifies the current state of the sanctions against Iran and does not represent further sanctions relief, a Treasury Department spokesman told Bloomberg.”

In turn, the United States can do business with those countries that have done business with Iran, just so long as none of the Iranian money has entered the United States financial system.

The guidelines also said it was not necessarily sanctible for foreign countries to do business with Iran if they were on the Specially Designated Nationals list (SDN).

Breitbart News reports:

“Also, the guidelines said it was “not necessarily sanctionable” for foreigners to conduct business with an entity that while not on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list — a list of individuals and companies, including terrorists, with which US citizens and permanent residents are not allowed to do business — is nonetheless “minority owned, or that is controlled in whole or in part, by an Iranian or Iran-related person on the SDN List.”

Individuals on the SDN list are those who have been flagged by the United States as terrorists, or those who have been marked for suspicious activity.

These individuals are still not allowed to do business with Iran. The sanction involving the SDN list is to prevent Iran from having any nuclear weapons in their possession.

Times of Israel reports:

“In July 2015, six countries led by the United States reached an agreement with Iran to limit its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions on the country. The White House has said the deal would prevent Iran, whose leaders have called for the destruction of Israel, from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”

The US still maintains sanctions on Iran, as well as on Iranian companies and people on the SDN list.

The sanctions were originally put in place in 1996 as a way to deter Iranian possession of specialized weapons.

The law is set to expire in December 2016, and the Obama administration and Congress are at odds over what to do with the expired sanction.

While the President wants to issue a loosening of the sanction, Congress is concerned that changing the sanction may allow Iran to gain control of nuclear weapons.

Roll Call reports:

“The Democratic senators, in a letter to the Kentucky Republican last week, said that renewing the law is “crucial” because “it remains a critical tool to deter and impede individuals and entities supporting Iran’s development of conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction.”

Keeping it on the books would en sure “with the utmost certainty” that Washington has “the sanctions enforcement mechanism our national security demands.”